


In Sober Day

by UchiHime



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Suits (TV)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Established Relationship, Kid Fic, M/M, Mpreg, Omega Verse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-20
Updated: 2014-08-20
Packaged: 2018-02-14 00:29:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2171106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UchiHime/pseuds/UchiHime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five years before Mike Ross interrupts Harvey Specter’s law firm interviews with a suitcase full of pot, he meets Tony Stark at a party in Malibu.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Sober Day

**Author's Note:**

> I'm hoping that by posting this first chapter now, I'll find the motivation to actually write the second chapter so I can figure out what the hell needs to happen in the third chapter. 
> 
> I love to Dom/Sub-verse fics that this fandom is so full of, but I'm not quite ready to tackle something like that so I decided to stick with what I know and write an omegaverse instead. This started out as three different fics that kinda merged into one all on their own (after four false starts) and I really enjoyed writing it so far, I just lost the motivation to continue it. But perhaps the motivation will return upon knowing it's posted for the world to see.
> 
> A couple of notes: this will be a 3-part fic each part told from a different POV. Part 1 is Mike with present events interspersed with flashbacks, Part 2 will be Tony with present events interspersed with news articles, Part 3 will be Harvey, I'm undecided on how his will break down (if I can figure out how to mix things with events of him winning and still move along the plot, that's probably how I will go.
> 
> The story and chapter titles all come from the poem Jewels by Sara Teasdale, the poem itself has nothing to do with the story, I just like the words.
> 
> The story is un-beta'd but I've read through it at least 10 times so I'm sure the mistakes will be minimal.

**Sapphire Shadows on the Snow**

_Present, November 2013._

He wakes to lips on his neck, a warm body draped across him, and the heady scent of _alpha_ in his nose. Mike smiles before even opening his eyes. He knows that it's Harvey on him and that alone is enough to make him feel warm and happy. It had surprised him when he learned how affectionate Harvey was in private. Since they'd gotten together two months before, Mike felt like he'd discovered an entirely new person. The private Harvey was tactile and gentle and even caring. He had actual emotions and he showed them to Mike when they were alone together and it made Mike love him all the more.

"You need to go," Harvey mumbles against the shell of Mike's ear, before pulling the lobe into his mouth and nibbling on it in a way that made Mike shiver. "Work."

Mike turns his head enough to see the clock on the nightstand (an action Harvey takes advantage of by attacking Mike's exposed neck with tongue and teeth) and curses when he sees the time. If he left right this second, he would possibly maybe just barely make it back to his apartment in time to take a shower and put on a fresh suit before hopping a cab to the office and make it there almost not quite on time. But that was only if he left right that second, something that didn't look like it was going to happen, because Harvey's cock is digging into his hip and Mike hates to see a good erection go to waste.

He doesn't get out of Harvey's bed for another ten minutes and doesn't make it to Pearson Hardman until another hour after that. Mike’s just gotten out of a cab and hasn’t even finished closing the door when Harvey walks out of the building. “You’re late, rookie,” he says just as Ray pulls up to the curb next to them.

Mike rolls his eyes. “Well, someone didn’t wake me early enough,” he says accusingly. He was only about thirty minutes late but swears it would have been half that if he’d ridden his bike instead of taking a cab.

Harvey arches one eyebrow of Mike’s statement, but says nothing in reply, instead giving his attention to Ray and their usual coffee/mixtape tradition. “Get in the car, Mike.” Harvey says when he sees Mike still standing in the same place.

Mike’s blush isn’t due only to embarrassment when he slides into the car next to Harvey. The moment the door closes behind him, Mike’s faced with the almost overwhelming scent of _alpha_. Despite the fact that the two of them had been doing something that could be called “dating” for the last two months, Mike hasn’t told Harvey he’s an omega. His suppressants left him smelling more like a beta and Mike had worked hard to keep their relationship from going too far into sexual areas. He was keeping too many secrets from Harvey to allow them to take such a step, his orientation being the least of those secrets. He could only be grateful that Harvey was okay with Mike’s insistence that they “take it slow.”

“Where we headed?” Mike asks, breathing carefully through his mouth until his senses adjusted enough that the scent of alpha didn’t make him feel so hot.

“Client meeting,” Harvey answers, passing Mike a manila folder with the necessary information. “It’s a special client, I expect you to keep your cool.”

“When have I ever not kept my cool?” Mike says with a grin. The grin falls quickly from his face when he reads the client’s name. He tries to hide his shock and prays that Harvey doesn’t notice how his voice shakes when he asks, “Doesn’t Stark Industries have their own legal department?”

“Yes, they do, and the CEO of Stark Industries goes to them whenever she has a problem with the company. Tony Stark, on the other hand, comes to me. I’m his personal attorney.”

“Wow, what an honor,” Mike says sarcastically.

“More like, what a pain in the ass. Do you know how many patents I end up filing for with this guy? The Iron Man suit and its associated technology are Tony Stark’s personal property, not Stark Industries. And don’t get me started on how many would-be baby mamas come after the man, wanting a bite of his fortune.”

“You love it,” Mike teases, hiding his suddenly very pale face behind the folder.

“I do,” Harvey admits with an unnecessarily smug grin.

“So, what’s this meeting for?”

“A couple of things. First, another one of his little flings is trying to pin a child on him. I’ve long ago stopped considering that to be any sort of serious issue. It’ll be resolved quietly with a DNA test that proves he’s not the father and a gag order on the media until it’s all over.”

“What happens if he is the father?” Mike can’t stop himself from asking.

“He won’t be. Tony’s stupid sometimes, but he’s very careful about his bed practices. I’ve lost count of the number of people who attempted to pin him with the child, but they’ve all been false allegations. If, by some turn of fate, this girl is actually telling the truth and the kid is Stark’s, then that’ll be something we’ll have to discuss with our client.”

“What’s the other reason for this trip?”

“Well, it’s past time for my associate to meet my most famous client.”

Mike laughs. “Show off.”

Stark Tower looms ahead of them. If he thinks about it long enough, Mike can recall every single time he’d ever biked passed the building, forcing himself to look anywhere but at it and to think about anyone except the person who resided inside. He feels like he should tell Harvey that he’s actually met Tony Stark before, but he can’t bring himself to voice his shame.

All too soon, they’re getting out the car and entering the building. Harvey walks like he’s been here a million times and Mike reluctantly trails along behind him.

…

_Past, July 2008._

Mike swings an extra shift at the bar because Lynn met a man she claimed was the alpha of her dreams and had skipped town with him to settle down somewhere half way across the country. The guy they’d hired to replace her had gotten caught stealing from the register only two weeks on the job and Ronnie hadn’t been able to find anyone new after that. Mike doesn’t mind the extra work because he really needs the money and the shifts are during a pretty slow time of the day. Trevor often popped in and sat down at the bar to chat with Mike while nursing a single beer. Trevor was a smalltime drug dealer with nothing better to do between runs. During the slowest times of the day, they would turn on the radio and both sit there doing separate tasks, Trevor usually doodling on napkins, lost in thought and Mike reading up on whatever subject was holding his attention at the time.

It wasn’t a glamorous life, but there’s not much he could do having left college without obtaining a degree. Besides, Mike liked working at the bar. He and Lynn had been the only omegas on staff, but now it was just him since Lynn was long gone and moved on. It wasn’t a big deal since all their regulars knew not to mess with him. Ever so often there would be some problems with alphas smelling their own piss and thinking they could boss him around, but the two burly betas who worked the door always had Mike’s back. He was paid sixty dollars a night, plus whatever he made in tips. With his charm and his actual skill as a bartender, his tips easily fell near an additional hundred dollars on a good night. It paid the rent and for his Grammy’s care, and occasionally left him with enough for some actual food.

“ _We’re still looking for our lucky caller,_ ” the radio host said, “ _Someone’s going to win an all-expense paid trip for two to Malibu and tickets to what’s promising to be the hottest party of the season. And all you got to do is answer a couple of trivia questions.”_

Mike’s sitting down next to Trevor casually reading a law book (because he still wants to be a lawyer despite how unlikely it was now), only half listening to what’s being said on the radio.

_“Who am I talking to?”_

_“This is Amber.”_

_“Hey, Amber. Are you going to be my lucky winner?”_

_“I hope so.”_

_“Alright, here’s the rules. I’m going to ask you six questions, get four right and you win. If you don’t like the question, you can pass. If you don’t give your answer within twenty seconds, I’ll move on to the next question. If you get all six questions right, I’ll ask four bonus questions. Get those right too and you get two-thousand dollars cash to add to your prize. You ready for this Amber?”_

_“Yes.”_

_“Alright, first question.”_ Amber got the first two questions wrong, following it with three correct answers, before getting the last one wrong too. Mike answered all the questions right without even taking his attention off his book.

“You knew all those answers,” Trevor said, putting down his ink pen and looking at Mike.

“Well, I’m a fountain of useless information, aren’t I?” Mike quipped back, still not looking up from his book.

“You could so win that. You should give it a try.”

“Why would I want to?”

“Did you miss the words ‘all-expense paid trip’ or ‘hottest party of the season’?”

“Why would I want to go all the way to Malibu to hang out at a party where I’ll be nobody and everyone would know I’m nobody?”

“Then what about the two-thousand dollars? I know you could use that money.”

“Yeah, I could use it, but I’m not going to win it. Everyone and their mom is probably calling the radio station right now. The likelihood of my call actually going through…”

_“Who am I talking to?”_

_“Hey, this is Trevor!”_

Mike looked up in shock at the sound of Trevor’s voice spilling out from the radio. On the barstool next to him, Trevor had his cellphone in hand and a grin on his face.

_“Trevor, are you going to be my lucky winner.”_

_“Oh, no, I’m not. Mike is. Here Mike.”_ Trevor tried to hand him the phone.

“No.” Mike whispered loudly, shoving away the hand Trevor outstretched towards him. There was a bit of the scuffle, before Mike finally sighed and took the phone. “This is Mike.”

The radio host laughed. “You don’t seem very eager to play. Don’t think you’ll win?”

“I know I’m gonna win. I’m just not the radio contest type.”

“Well, I want to put that confidence to the test. You know the rules?” He started rambling on the same things he’d said to all the other callers, and Mike held his tongue until he was done. “Ready, Mike?”

“Yeah, ready.”

“ _Alright, first question.”_

It took less than a minute for Mike to answer all the questions. The radio host said some meaningless words of shock at the ease in which Mike had won, then asked him to stay on the line for them to take down his information.

Two weeks later, Mike and Trevor were on a plane to Malibu.

…

_Present, November 2013._

Harvey has a confidence about him that Mike has only ever seen in alphas. It makes sense. Everything just came so effortlessly for alphas. Of course they’d be confident, or even cocky as it more often was. Betas had to work hard to be what alphas were born as, and omegas had no reason at all to ever feel confident about anything.

Mike wasn’t ashamed of being an omega, but his life would be a lot easier if he wasn’t one. Omegas had drawn the short straw in biology and was dealt a bad hand by society. It had long been argued that, without an alpha to keep them balanced, omegas weren’t capable of caring for themselves or another person.

This contradicted the stereotype that an omega’s place was in the kitchen, barefoot, and pregnant and that omegas made the best parents. It had been only ten years since it became illegal to discriminate against a person for their orientation. Prior to that, it had been almost impossible to find work as an unbound omega. It was still illegal in some states for unbound omegas to raise children. New York wasn’t one of those states, but on a case by case basis, most unbounds were ruled unfit and lost custody anyway.

People always said the omegas needed to stop complaining. So what if they only had limited rights now, it’s better than what they had before. It used to be that an alpha could forcefully bond an omega and face no penalty for it. Not only had it been accepted, but in some circles it’d been expected and praised. Omegas were just wanton sluts and they needed a good alpha to keep them in check and give them what they needed. It had even been okay for alphas to marry a beta, but keep an omega as something like a pet. Omegas had been considered property and not people.

Mike tried not to think about such things. He swallowed down a little white pill two times a day and let people assume he was a beta. There was only a few clinics in New York who could legally supply suppressants and birth control to unbound omegas, and fewer still that gave them for free. Bonded omegas needed their alpha’s permission to take birth control or suppressants. No one who wanted to keep their job or stay out of jail would write a prescription to a bonded omega without their alpha present.

Mike, through no choice of his own, only took suppressants. There was only one omega birth control pill on the market and Mike had an allergic reaction the nearly killed him the first and only time he’d ever taken it. To him, birth control meant only sleeping with betas, because male omegas could only be impregnated by alphas, unlike female omegas who could conceive by betas as well. He’d only slept with an alpha one time in his entire life. He’d vowed he wouldn’t sleep with another alpha unless he intended to bond with him. He accepted that, given his situation, he may never bond with an alpha.

All of a sudden, the elevator Mike and Harvey are in grinds to a stop. “I’m sorry, gentlemen,” an automated voice says, “You’ll have to reschedule your meeting with Mr. Stark.”

“What’s going on, Jarvis?” Harvey asks as the elevator starts taking them back down to ground level.

“A situation has come up that requires the Iron Man’s assistance. I’ll have Mr. Stark contact you with a better meeting time.”

“Tell him that he’ll have to come to me next time,” Harvey tells the AI.

“Will do, Mr. Specter. Have a good afternoon, sirs.”

Mike lets out a sigh of relief when they walk out of Stark Tower. He feels like he’s just barely avoided a disaster.

Ray had been asked to wait for them outside and the moment Mike and Harvey get back into the car, Harvey asks, “Mind telling me why you seemed so unenthusiastic about meeting Tony Stark. Especially when I know for a fact that you’re and Iron Man fanboy.”

Mike looks at him and shock, before sighing. Of course Harvey had noticed his reluctance, the man read people for a living. “What makes you think I’m a fanboy?” Mike deflects.

“You stop in the middle of whatever you’re doing the moment his name is mentioned. I’ve seen you stop speaking in the middle of a sentence and then forget what you were saying, because there was a news clip about him on the T.V. Kind of hard not to notice.”

“I’m a superhero fan, not a Tony Stark fan. I’ve met him before,” Mike admits, unable to meet Harvey’s eyes. “It was about five years ago. I was wholly unimpressed with him.”

Harvey chuckles. “He wasn’t a superhero five years ago. And there wasn’t much about him worth liking. I wasn’t his attorney then, but I knew his reputation. From what I can tell, he’s changed a lot since then.”

“Yeah, well, a first impression tends to stick around.”

…

_Past, August 2008._

Mike was roused from his sleep by a mumbled voice saying, “Good god, Tony, is this one even legal?” There’s a brief moment of confusion, before his still half-asleep mind realized that the speaker wasn’t talking to him, or anyone present in the room for that matter, if the cold sheets on the other side of the bed were anything to go by.

“Come on, you,” the voice said, yanking the sheets off of Mike. “Up and out.” Mike wanted to curse and hide his head under the pillow (because the amount of light in the room was doing absolutely nothing to help his hangover) but the speaker, a pretty red head woman, had a look on her face that said she would eat his liver with fava beans if he ignored her.

Mike moved to drag himself out of bed, but a pain in his ass froze him in place. He suddenly recalled, with the sharp clarity by which he recalls every detail of his life, exactly what had taken place the night before.

He’d had sex. With an alpha. And not just any alpha either. No, Mike had to go above and beyond his usual levels of idiocy and have sex with billionaire, playboy, alpha Tony Stark.

Mike had never slept with an alpha before, and he knew he shouldn’t have done so last night, but it’s hard to resist when you’re pinned to a wall by a man like Tony Stark and he had his hand down your pants. And it is true what people say, alphas do _it_ better. _So_ much better. Mike had had enough time for regrets when he was knotted to the man for thirty minutes and knew he wouldn’t be able to walk straight for a week afterwards.

Knotting was something else Mike had never experienced before the previous night. Betas didn’t have knots and the knotted dildos Mike used during the one time a year where he was required to cease his use of suppressants and go into heat was nothing compared to the real thing. Alphas only ever “popped a knot” when their partners were omegas. When Stark had realized his knot had grown and tied them together, he’d cursed at Mike. “You didn’t tell me you were an omega.”

Mike had felt like his face was going to melt off from the combined heat of his blush and the glare fixed on him. “You didn’t give me the chance.”

“You smell like a beta.” Stark had mumbled, pressing his face against the side of Mike’s neck and inhaling deeply.

“I’m on suppressants.” And that had been the last thing said until the knot had deflated and freed them. They'd both promptly fallen asleep after.

Mike’s thoughts raced too fast for even him to keep up with. This went beyond a walk of shame and into a life changing experience that could have lasting consequences. He surreptitiously checked his neck for bite marks and let out a sigh of relief. No bite, no bond, a statistically smaller chance of conception taking place.

…

_Present, November 2013._

There’s a stack of briefs on Mike’s desk when they get back to the office and he works diligently, not even stopping for lunch, in order to get them done. Every hour or so, his eyes drifts over to check the time. He finishes the last brief just as the clock ticks over to 5:30. He hops up from his seat, swings his messenger bag over his shoulder with one hand and grabs the stack of finished files with the other.

Jessica is in Harvey’s office when Mike gets there and Mike is relieved to have an excuse not to go in and talk to the man himself. “Donna, can you tell Harvey I’m taking off early?” He asks the admin, placing the stack of briefs on her desk. “I finished the Shelton briefs, but something’s come up that can’t be avoided. Tell him I’ll be unavailable all weekend. Thanks, Donna, bye.”

He turns and hurries away before she can say anything. “I’m on to you, Mike Ross!” Donna calls after him.

A couple of minutes later, Mike’s out of the building and flagging down a cab. The address he gives the cabbie is to a place in Manhattan. He rests his head against the back of the seat and closes his eyes as the car trudges along through traffic.

“We’re here, sir,” the cabbie says, startling Mike out of the doze he’d fallen into. Mike opens his eyes and glances out the window. They’ve pulled to a stop in front of a townhouse. There’s a woman sitting on the porch reading a book and a little kid riding down the sidewalk on a red bicycle with training wheels.

“Keep the meter running,” Mike says as he opens the car door.

As soon as he steps out of the car, a little voice calls out “Daddy!” The little boy hops off his bike and runs towards Mike.

“Connor!” Mike calls, kneeling down and opening his arms wide. The moment his son is in his arms, everything feels whole and right with the world. He holds the little boy close, breathing in his scent and hugging him tightly. There’s always a moment where he fears he might start crying when he first sees Connor.

“Hi, Mike,” the woman from the porch says, walking towards them with an Iron Man backpack swinging from her arm.

“Hi, Mrs. Perks.” Mike smiles at her, standing up straight but still holding his son close to his side. Emily Perks is plain in appearance, but she has one of the most beautiful hearts Mike has ever seen. He’d been hesitant around her at first, this beta woman who was going to be raising his child, but she’d never been anything but kind to Mike and Connor both, and Connor had nothing but good things to say about her. She’s had three foster kids in the time Mike has known her, though Connor was the only one she had at present, and she had one child of her own and they all looked so happy to be in her care.

“Nice suit, coming from the office?” Mike nods and she smiles. “Connor, go put your bike away, I need to talk to your dad.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Connor says. Mike watches him as he rushes over to where he’d left his bike. Mike had bought him the bike for his fourth birthday back in May and he seemed to love it.

“I wanted to talk to you about a couple of things,” Emily says once Connor is out of hearing range. “His kindergarten teacher wants to move him up to the first grade and I didn’t want to give them permission to do so without discussing it with you first.”

Mike isn’t surprised. Connor had started preschool in September, by October they’d realized that he had an actual interest in learning unlike his classmates and had moved him to kindergarten. Connor was a genius. Unsurprisingly, considering who his parents were. Mike wagers Connor’s reading level was somewhere near third grade level at the moment and he had both Mike’s memory and his flair for numbers. Still, he’s hesitant to put his four year old in a class with students that were too much older than him.

“Do you think that would be a good idea?” Mike asks. He trusts Emily’s judgment when it came to raising Connor, because she has more experience with children than Mike did.

“Honestly, I’m not sure. He’s not being properly challenged in kindergarten and without being challenged, he’ll grow bored with school pretty quickly. But he won’t get the social development he needs when he spends his days with people outside his age range. I’ve been looking into other schools for him. Ones that’ll give him the needed challenge, but keep him with an appropriate peer group. That’s what else I wanted to talk to you about. I found a school, it’s expensive but they’re willing to offer him a scholarship, but I didn’t want to transfer him without talking to you about it first.”

At that moment, Connor comes running back outside. A blonde girl with pigtails stands in the doorway behind him, waving at Mike. Mike waves back at her and stoops down just in time to catch Connor as the four year old flings himself into Mike’s arms. “Ready to go, daddy?” Connor asks.

“There’s information about the school in his bag,” Emily says, handing over the Iron Man backpack. “We can talk more about it when you bring him back Sunday.”

“Bye, Mrs. Perks,” Connor says as Mike carries him towards the waiting cab. “Bye Allie!” He calls louder to the blonde in the doorway. Mike exchanges a few more words with Emily, before joining his son in the car. He gives the cabbie his address and buckles both him and Connor into their seatbelts.

As the car pulls off, Connor happily starts chatting about school and his foster sister and the things he’s gotten up to in the month since he’d seen Mike last. They arrive at Mike’s apartment, and he pays the cab fare before helping Connor out of the car. The four year old is still chatting excitedly as they enter the building.

“Daddy, can we get ice cream?”

“No ice cream, but there are cookies inside. But you know the rules, no sweets before dinner.”

“Yes, sir.” Connor pouts.

They turn down the hall to Mike’s apartment and Mike almost freezes in place when he sees Harvey standing outside his door.

“Who’s that?” Connor asks.

“That’s my boss, Mr. Specter,” Mike says, forcing a smile into place.

Connor walks up to Harvey and smiles at him, outstretching his hand for the man to shake. “Hi, Mr. Specter, I’m Connor. It’s very nice to meet you.”

Harvey shoots a look at Mike that he can’t quite read, before he pastes on his own smile and shakes Connor’s hand. “Nice to meet you, too.”

“Connor, why don’t you go inside and watch T.V. while I talk to him, okay?” He watches Harvey out of the corner of his eye as he unlocks his door and opens it.

“Okay.” Connor smiles and heads in.

Mike watches Connor make his way over towards the couch, then pulls the door close behind him. “What are you doing here?” He asks, trying and failing to be calm about it.

“I came to get you,” Harvey says. “You left work early without my permission and we have things to do.”

Mike shifts in front of the closed door and looks anywhere but in Harvey’s eyes. “I told Donna to tell you something came up.”

“Something came up?” Harvey repeats in a tone that makes Mike want to fall to his knees and confess his sins. He can hear the _alpha_ in Harvey’s voice and the omega in him wants to bear his neck and beg forgiveness.

“Can we talk about this Monday?” Mike pleads. There’s a crashing sound from the other side of the door, followed by a loud wailing scream. “Fuck,” Mike curses, turning and rushing into his apartment, forgetting all about Harvey and trying to get the man to leave.

Mike follows the sound of crying into the kitchen. He had painstakingly cleaned his whole apartment over the course of the last week, so the sight of toppled over food contents and shattered glass on his kitchen floor was very out of place, but what Mike’s most concerned with is the little boy sitting in the middle of the mess, large tears rolling down his cheeks.

“Daddy, I hurt myself!” Connor sobbed.

“What happened?” Mike asks, picking his way carefully through the broken glass to get to his son. When he gets to the boy, he picks him up and immediately carries him away from the mess, not wanting to linger near the sharp glass.

“I was trying to get the cookies off the fridge and I fell,” Mike’s son whimpers.

“What have I told you about climbing on the counter, Connor?” Mike chastises, sitting the four year old down on the couch and only somewhat frantically checking him over for injuries. There’s no cuts or bumps or broken bones, so Mike allows himself to breathe easy.

“I just wanted a cookie,” Connor says, pouting but no longer crying. He’d probably bruised his bottom when he’d fallen, but Mike is pretty sure the tears had just been showmanship. He probably thought if he cried and looked cute, he wouldn’t get in trouble for what he’d done.

“And I told you no sweets until after dinner. And now you’ve gone and hurt yourself because you decided to disobey me.”

“I’m sorry,” Connor mumbles.

Mike sighs. “I think the fall was enough of a punishment for now. You just stay put while I clean up the glass. Then you can help me with the rest of the mess you made.”

“Yes, daddy.”

Mike gets to his feet and turns towards the kitchen, only to be greeted by the sight of Harvey standing there, one judgmental eyebrow raised in Mike’s direction. Mike sighs again and pushes passed him to get to the broom and dust pan.

Harvey follows him into the kitchen. “Is there something you need to tell me, Mike?” He asks.

“Oh yeah,” Mike says, voice oozing sarcasm. “By the way, Harvey, I have a son. His name is Connor, he’s four years old.”

“Thanks for that information, Mike. And thanks for telling me it right away. It definitely wasn’t something I needed to know before hiring you. Or before we started dating either.”

“I didn’t see a reason why I needed to.”

“I think the fact that you’re committing a crime is a good reason to tell me these things. A crime that could get you locked up and your kid taken away.”

Mike sighs again and empties the glass he swept up into the garbage bin. “It doesn’t matter,” he says. “It changes nothing. It’s not like I actually have custody of Connor.”

“I was hoping you weren’t raising a four year old in this shitty apartment.”

Mike puts down the dust pan and broom a bit harder than he probably needed to. “Good to know you approve of my son being in foster care over being home with me.”

“Foster care?” Harvey asks, looking genuinely shocked. “What happened to his mother?”

Mike hesitates, before mentally saying ‘fuck it.’ Today is apparently one for revealing secrets. “I am his mother. I’m an omega, Harvey.”

Harvey is actually shocked into silence. Good.

“Connor, come on, clean up your mess,” Mike calls.

…

_Past, October 2008._

It was the same old routine every time. Stop by the Omega Clinic on his way to see Grammy. Piss in a cup. Five minutes later, they’ll write him out a prescription for a refill on his suppressants. He’d dropped the prescription at the pharmacy by the nursing home and pick it up on his way home. Pop two pills every day until he ran out. Rinse and repeat.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Ross, we’re unable to renew your prescription at this time.”

“What? Why not?” Mike asked in disbelief. He’d been coming to this clinic for years and had never been told that.

“Your urine sample tested positive for MGH. The use of suppressants during pregnancy is prohibited by the FDA.”

Mike stared blankly at her, almost positive that he’d heard wrong. There was no possible way she was speaking the truth. It was not possible. Okay, so there was a very small chance that she was right, but Mike refused to believe it. “There must be some kind of mistake. I’m not pregnant. I can’t be pregnant.”

The woman looked at him sympathetically. She was probably used to freak outs and denials, working at one of the few clinics in the city that could legally prescribe suppressants and birth control to unbound omegas. Every omega who stood across the desk from her wanted only two things: not to go into heat, and not to get pregnant. New York City had the third-highest pregnancy rate among unbound omegas and they all probably said the exact same thing.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Ross, but your test results were…”

“Positive for MGH,” he finished for her.

“If you’d like, I can schedule you for an appointment with Dr. Peters. He’s our male obstetrics specialist. You can discuss your options with him.”

Mike sighed and rubbed his hand down his face as he counted back the weeks in his mind. He mentally kicked himself in the face. Fuck. “I only have one option at this point,” he told her. It was against the law for omegas to terminate pregnancies after six weeks. The health risks were too great. It had been seven weeks since he’d last had sex. Mike wondered how, as a certified genius, he could have done something so stupid. “But that appointment would be nice.”

She nodded and typed a few things on her computer. “I have time available on Thursday and next Tuesday. Is either of those good for you?”

“Thursday would be good,” Mike mumbled. It was Monday now and he didn’t think he could wait a whole week for an appointment.

“Alright, two-thirty or four-o’clock?”

“Two-thirty.”

“And will your alpha be present?”

Mike shook his head. “I… No, it’ll just be me.”

The woman nodded, obviously having expected that answer. It was obvious that Mike was unbound, otherwise he wouldn’t have been there alone to begin with. She wrote down the details of his appointment on a little card and slid it under the partition towards Mike.

“Thank you,” Mike mumbled, stuffing the card in his pocket without looking at it.

“You’re welcome. Have a good afternoon, Mr. Ross. Take care of yourself.”

“You too,” Mike said absently, turning and walking away from the desk with a frown etched on his face. Outside the clinic, he unchained his bike and turned towards Grammy’s nursing home, completely lost in thought. Mike knew what alpha had gotten him pregnant, which was more than what could be said by most unbound omegas in his position, but knowing who it was did absolutely nothing to help the situation.

Seven weeks ago had been the Malibu trip. That stupid night where he’d fallen into bed with Tony Stark and had woken up with nothing but a sore ass and regrets. He had always been told that omegas instinctively knew it the exact moment they conceived. Mike had never felt such a moment of awareness, so he’d assumed luck had been on his side and his foolish tumble with someone _way_ out of his league had not resulted with him being up the duff.

Apparently, he’d assumed wrong.

Damn. How was this even his life? What was he supposed to do now? There was no way he could support a kid. Not without having a real job. And his little apartment was barely large enough for himself, he couldn’t have a kid there.

Mike pulled his bike to an abrupt stop on the sidewalk when his last thought fully registered in his mind. He _literally_ could not have a kid in his apartment. He couldn’t even be pregnant in his apartment. He lived in a building for unbound omegas. In order to stay there, he had to follow certain rules. He needed to always take suppressants, except the one heat of year when he couldn’t. He wasn’t allowed alpha visitors in the building, and beta visitors weren’t allowed to spend the night. There was no kids allowed in the building for longer than thirty-minutes unless cleared by the building’s super. And last but not least, pregnant or bonded omegas were not allowed.

And it was a strictly enforced rule, too. Mike knew of two people who’d been evicted from the building for being pregnant. He’d heard one arguing with the super in the lobby of the building. She was crying, asking where she was supposed to go. The super (who was a beta) had told her “go find the alpha who knocked you up and stay with him. If you even know who that was. It’s not my problem you can’t keep your whore legs closed. I don’t care where you go, you just can’t stay here.”

It was impossible to hide it. Pregnant omegas couldn’t take suppressants, and just a couple days (sometimes it only took hours) without suppressants made it impossible to hide the unmistakable scent of a pregnant omega. The moment his super found out, Mike was going to be given a week to move out. Not even squatter’s rights could protect them, as they didn’t apply to unbound omegas. Just as the law prohibiting the termination of a pregnant person’s employment didn’t apply to unbound omegas.

“Fuck,” Mike whispered to himself. He’d really made a mess of his life.

He was receiving mean looks from the people being forced to walk around his still form on the sidewalk. With a sigh and the thought that there was nothing he could do about anything now, Mike got back on his bike and made his way to Grammy’s.

His grandmother lived in a nursing home that Mike paid for every month. He didn't have much money, most of his income coming from the bar he worked nights at and his day job as a bike messenger. He, occasionally, supplemented his income by taking standardized tests for people. It wasn’t much because minimum wage just barely kept up with the price of living and Grammy's care took most of it.

He definitely didn’t have enough money to make a down payment on a new apartment, and that’s if he could even find an apartment. He’d searched the housing market before. Not many people were willing to rent to an unbound omega and that was before they took in the fact he lacked steady employment. Omega Housing like where he was already living had been the only option for him. Unfortunately, all the omega buildings had similar rules about pregnancy.

He tried to think of a friend he could stay with until he landed on his feet, but the only people he’d ever been really close to was Trevor and his girl, Jenny. They both had housing situation similar to Mike's, except their building was for betas only.

He was still caught up in his thoughts when he reached Grammy. Edith took one look at Mike and knew something was wrong. “Well, don’t just stand there, sit down and tell me what happened,” she said, motioning Mike into the room from where he’d been hovering uncertainly by the doorway. “This isn’t about that Trevor boy, is it? You know I never liked him and my only advice will be to drop him like a bad habit.”

“No, Gram, it’s not about Trevor,” Mike said, unable to bring himself to meet her eyes.

Grammy frowned and closed the magazine she’d been perusing. “What is it then, Michael? You know you can tell me.”

“I messed up, Grammy. I messed up big time.”

“Well, this wouldn’t be the first time you came to me saying that. And, for the most part, everything worked out alright before. Tell me how it’s different this time.”

Mike still couldn’t meet her eyes. “I’m pregnant, Gram. I’m pregnant.”

“Oh, Michael,” Grammy crooned. She placed a warm hand on Mike’s shoulder and Mike immediately started to cry.

“Hey, hey, what are these tears for? None of that now. We’re going to talk about this like adults, so go on and dry those eyes.”

“I don’t know what to do, Grammy.”

“I know, baby, I know. I need you to be a big boy right now, Michael. Tears aren't going to make anything better, so they need to stop. We’ll figure something out. We always do.”

…

_Present, November 2013._

As always, his weekend with Connor passes much too fast. He feels like all he’d done was blink and it was Sunday afternoon and time to take Connor home.

Connor is, thankfully, too tired to pitch the usual fit he did when Mike took him back. He loves the Perks house, but he loves being with his daddy more and it breaks Mike’s heart every time his son cries and begs to stay with him. This time, Connor is asleep in Mike’s arms when he carries him up to the house.

When asked, Mike sheepishly admits that he hadn’t given any thought to the school Mrs. Perks had found for Connor. All weekend, his thoughts had been split between taking care of Connor and worrying about the coming conversation with Harvey. He promises Emily that he’ll look over the information when he has the time and will call her about it.

When he makes it back home, he’s asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow.

Walking into Pearson Hardman the next day feels like walking to the gallows. Mike heads straight for his desk, wanting to put off the confrontation with Harvey for as long as possible. He realizes this method only works because Harvey allows it. Mike spends the day proofing briefs and searching the archives for precedence for Louis. He stumbles out of the building at the end of the day without seeing Harvey even once.

So, of course Harvey is waiting for him outside. “Leave your bike,” he orders, motioning Mike to get into the car first. Mike does what he’s told without a word.

The ride to Harvey’s apartment is quiet and filled with an unnamed tension. Mike’s used to going home with Harvey after they leave work. He’s been doing so at least three times a week for the past month. The only tension usually present during the rides is the sexual kind.

Harvey says nothing when they get to his place, nor when they’re taking his private elevator upstairs. He doesn’t speak until he’s poured himself a tumbler of whiskey and took a seat in his leather arm chair. His first question isn’t at all what Mike had expected.

“How did you lose custody of your son?”

“There was an incident. Connor was only one and I was working two jobs. I left him with Trevor. Trevor left him home alone. He said Connor was taking a nap and he was only planning to be gone a few minutes. He was gone over an hour. Connor got hurt. We got him to the hospital in time, but there was an investigation. You know how people say unbound omegas aren’t stable enough to raise a child. He was put in temporary state custody while they looked to see if I’d deliberately hurt him. They took one look at my apartment, ruled the whole thing accidental, and gave me thirty days to find a new place to live because my apartment building was so shitty it still had lead paint in it.

“I’d only just found that apartment after months of searching. The place I lived before that was better, but it was Omega Housing. I’d lost my good paying night job, and the one I’d gotten instead wasn’t paying much. Trevor and Jenny helped out where they could, but most of the time it was rob Peter to pay Paul. Thirty days came and went, but I didn’t have a new place. I couldn’t afford a new place. Connor stayed in state custody.

“A year or so later, I moved to where I’m at now. Still wasn’t up to standards to have him live with me full time, but I get him one weekend a month. I’m allowed to visit him, though. His foster parents are really nice. They’re good people. I can tell they love Connor like he’s their own.”

Harvey listens to Mike’s words, revealing nothing of how he feels on his face. It’s strange. Mike feels like he’s dealing with his boss Harvey (a somewhat cold, calculating man) and not his boyfriend Harvey (the affectionate one who wakes him with kisses and always finds reasons to touch him). Mike doesn’t like it.

“You make enough money to buy a better place now, so why haven’t you gotten him back?”

“I’m scared to even try,” Mike admits. “Like you said, I’m committing a crime. I can go to prison. What if they start asking questions and discover I’m not qualified for my job? If this blows up, it’ll be better if Connor isn’t caught in the middle. Besides, he likes it at the Perks house. It’s a two-parent home. He has a sister. He’s been with them longer than he’s ever been with me.”

Harvey nods slowly and sets down the drink he hasn’t even taken one sip of. Mike knows they’re getting to the heart of the matter when Harvey looks him in the eyes and actually hesitates before speaking. “Why did you never tell me about him?”

“At first, because it really didn’t matter. I’d gotten to the point where I’d almost lost hope of ever getting Connor back. I was barely making ends meet with Grammy. She was my top concern at the time I met you. And then, against all better reason, I fell in love with you, Harvey. I love you so much that I couldn’t imagine a life without you. And I was being selfish. I thought I could be with you and keep him separate, because you’re an alpha and he’s not your son and we both know how that plays out.”

It was the same biology that made alphas able to pop a knot when having sex with an omega and made omegas able to self-lubricate during their heats. Biologist had never been able to explain it. It was just something in their nature that made alphas and omegas instinctively recognize their young. Even if they'd never seen the child before, they would know instantly whether or not it was theirs.

Without this instinct that screamed "mine" most alphas didn't feel inclined to take care of children. That was part of the reason why Mike had been unwilling to further his relationship with Harvey. Mike had always planned to one day get custody of his son back. If he bonded with Harvey, he couldn't do that because it just wouldn't be in Harvey's nature as an alpha to raise a child that wasn't his.

“Who is his father?”

This times it’s Mike who hesitates before speaking. “Remember when I said I met Tony Stark five years ago?”

…

_Past, August 2008._

Mike lost sight of Trevor within minutes of entering the party, they’d passed a group of what looked to be supermodels and Trevor was gone from his side in an instant. Mike felt that he was right in his assertion that he was nobody at a party where everyone knew he was nobody. People moved around him—faces he recognized from television, magazines, and billboards—and Mike felt distinctively _separate_ from them all. He was an unremarkable man drowning in a sea of beautiful people.

He’d only attempted to socialize and interact with people for a few minutes, before finding his way to the bar and sitting there nursing a drink. He wanted to leave, but Trevor was still here somewhere and Mike was disinclined to leave without him, this being an unfamiliar city and all. He swallowed down the rest of his drink, the vodka making him feel warm all over, before flagging the bartender to ask for another. There was three bartenders on duty, one was competent but the other two were slow and one of them kept having to refer to notes to know what went into what drink. Mike had to contain the urge to go behind the bar and make his own drink. He did better work than them on his worst day. At least this was an open bar and he didn’t have to pay for such inadequate service.

When one of the bartenders finally made their way to him, Mike squashed his desire for a Blue Motherfucker and ordered an easy to make vodka martini instead.

“Make that two,” a voice next to him said, “one of them extra dry, extra olives.”

Mike turned to see who’d spoken and it took everything in him not to gape. He’d known the party was being thrown by Tony Stark, but he never expected to actually meet the man, but there he was in all his glory.

“Enjoying the party?” Stark asked with a lazy grin.

“It’s alright,” Mike said with a shrug he hoped came off as casual and didn’t make him look like he was trying too hard.

“Yeah, it’s not all that,” Stark said. “You know what’s better? The party you and I could be having in my bedroom.”

Mike could not hold back his look of disbelief.

“Yeah, you’re right. That was a bad line, but in my defense, I’ve already had more than a couple of drinks. Let me make it up to you.”

“And how do you plan to do that?”

Stark grinned. He oozed confidence and alpha pheromones so strong they made Mike weak in the knees. All his better senses told him to resist and back away slowly. Mike didn’t know if it was instincts or alcohol that had him falling into Stark’s bed not even five minutes later.

…

_Present, December 2013._

Harvey hasn’t spoken to Mike outside the office in almost two weeks. He’d said he needed space to think about things. Mike had nodded understandingly and went home and cried. He’s not really surprised that Harvey wanted to reconsider their relationship, given the situation, but it doesn’t make it hurt less. The thought that the same mistake he’d made five years ago was still controlling his life. The thought that he might lose Harvey over this. It all hurt.

Mike loves Connor with all his heart, but sometimes he regrets. Everything. Sometimes he regrets everything.

The phone on his desk rings and when Mike answers it, the security guard in the lobby says there’s a woman downstairs asking for him. Mike takes the elevator down and is surprised to find Emily Perks standing at the security desk. Connor is standing at her side, wearing a Captain America t-shirt under an unzipped red and gold coat and light-up Iron Man sneakers. His favorite Iron Man backpack is in Emily’s hand.

It was some cosmic irony that Connor is such a big Iron Man fan without even knowing the truth. It both amused and pained Mike.

“What’s going on?” Mike asks Emily, kneeling to catch Connor, who’d once more flung himself at Mike as soon as he saw him. There’s the familiar feeling of everything being whole and right and instinctive knowledge that this child was his son. Mike hugs him tightly and breathes in his scent.

Emily looks more haggard than Mike had ever seen her. Her eyes are red and puffy and it looks like she hasn’t slept in a week. “I’m not supposed to do this, Mike, but I really need you to keep him for a week or so. My mother just died and my father had a heart-attack. I’m flying out to Kansas to be with him. I’m not allowed to take Connor out of the state without a lot of paperwork and a process that could take days and I really need to go now.”

There’s fresh tears rolling down her cheeks and Mike feels the familiar pang in his heart that Harvey calls ‘caring too much.’

“It’s alright, Emily,” Mike says soothingly, pulling her into a hug. “Of course I’ll take him. You just go take care of everything you need to. We’ll be fine.”

She hands Mike Connor’s bag. “Thank you, so much, Mike. I’ve got to run, the cab’s waiting for me outside and… Connor, you be good okay. I’ll be back in a week or so.”

She’s already dashing from the building before Mike and Connor can finish calling their goodbyes.

Connor seems unfazed by his foster mother’s quick retreat. He’s looking around the lobby of the building as curious as ever. “Is this where you work, daddy?”

“Yeah, it is. I’m going to get some stuff from my desk and tell Mr. Specter that I have to leave. Then you and I can go out somewhere, okay?”

“Ice cream?” Connor asks hopefully.

“Ice cream? There’s snow on the ground and you’re asking for ice cream? You’re going to freeze your head off.”

“That’s not possible,” Connor states with all the knowledge and conviction of a four year old genius.

Mike laughs and ushers Connor into the elevator with him. He heads straight for Harvey’s office. Connor looks around the office building with wide eyed wonder, asking Mike a few questions as they go. When they reach Harvey’s office, Donna isn’t at her desk, but he can see Harvey inside meeting with someone.

Mike hesitantly raps his knuckles against the glass door as he opens it and sticks his head inside. “Harvey, I need to leave early. Something’s come…” He falls silent when he realizes who the man meeting with Harvey is. Connor’s backpack slips from his fingers and lands with a ‘thump’ on the floor.

“Daddy, is that Iron Man?” Connor asks, pushing pass Mike to get a better look. “Daddy! It’s Iron Man.”

Mike knows the exact moment Tony Stark feels the familiar instinct of ‘mine’ at the sight of Connor. His eyes widen and his nostrils flare and he just stands there looking dumbfounded.

Connor tries to run over to meet his favorite hero, but Mikes stops him with a hand on his shoulder. “Daddy!” Connor protests. “I want to meet Iron Man.”

At that moment, Donna returns and Mike lets out a sigh of relief. He gives her a look, begging her to come over, and she does so slowly. “Connor, you can meet Iron Man later, but first I want you to meet Donna. I’ve told you about her.”

“You’re Donna?” Connor asks, turning away from Stark and Harvey to look at the woman Mike had told him was a secret agent spy. “Superspy Donna?”

“Yep, that’s me,” Donna says with a smile that comes so easily, Mike can’t tell if it’s forced or not. “Why don’t you come hangout with me for a while and I’ll tell you all about being a spy.” She quickly hustles Connor away from the door and Mike sees her turn off the speaker on her desk that she uses to listen in on Harvey.

Mike steps all the way into Harvey’s office and lets the door close behind him. That seems to signal Stark to break out of his stupor. He turns angry eyes onto Harvey. “What the hell was that?”

Harvey sighs. “Mr. Stark, this is my associate Mike Ross, I believe you’ve met him before.”

Stark turns to look at Mike and just stares at him for a long silent moment, obviously trying and failing to recall where and when they’d met before.

“August of 2008,” Mike offers. “It was at a party you threw in Malibu. I’m not surprised you don’t remember.”

“You were the omega.” Stark finally says with a look of sudden clarity. “Pepper saw you out before I could remember to tell her not to. I never saw you again, so I’d assumed…”

“Daddy! Can I meet Iron Man now?”

Donna rushes into the room after Connor, obviously trying to pull him back out, but Mike stilled her with a hand. “Of course you can,” he tells Connor.

Connor smiles so large it makes Mike’s face hurt just seeing it. “Hi, Mr. Iron Man,” Connor says rushing across the room to be as near to Stark as he could get. “I’m Connor Anthony Ross, your biggest fan.”

“My biggest fan, are you?” Stark teases with a shaky smile. “Are you sure about that? You look like Captain America’s biggest fan to me.” He points at Connor’s shirt and Connor quickly wraps his arms around himself as if he could hide the red, white, and blue shield from sight.

“Cap’s cool, but you’re smarter. You built the Iron Man yourself! And…” He starts talking rapidly without stopping for breath and Mike barely pays any attention to what he’s says, instead taking in the sight of him with Tony.

They look alike. Connor has Mike’s blue eyes, but Stark’s dark hair and skin coloring. There’s something similar in the shape of their chin and eyes too. Mike had never thought he would see his son and his son’s other father in the same room, but it was happening now and it caused an ache deep within that he couldn’t understand.

“Connor, why don’t you come with me,” Donna says. “I have it on good authority that there’s cookies in the associate’s break room, but they’ll be all gone if we don’t go now.” Connor looks reluctant to stop talking to his hero, but the promise of sweets is enough to lure him away, but he makes Stark promise not to leave without saying bye to him first.

“He’s smarter than me at that age,” Tony says in a reverent tone once Donna has led Connor out of the room.

“He has great genetics,” Harvey says. “Mike has an eidetic memory and can do things with numbers that make my head hurt.”

“His foster mother says they want to move him up to first grade already and they just moved him to kindergarten about a month ago. We’re looking to find him a school that’ll nurture his genius.”

“Foster mother?”

Mike sighs and crosses the room to sit down on Harvey’s couch. He feels like they’re going to be there for a while. “Yeah, foster mother.”

…

_Past, February 2011._

Mike’s first visit with Connor was supervised by his social worker. At the beginning, Mike felt like crying. It’d been months since he’d last seen his son and he was no closer to getting him back. At the end of the meeting, it was Connor who was crying.

“No!” The toddler screamed. “I wanna go with daddy! I wanna go with daddy! Daddy!” Adam Perks, Connor’s foster father, had to pick him up and literally pry Connor’s small hands off of Mike.

Mike could only offer whispered promises that they’d see each other again soon. The social worker looked entirely unmoved by the display. She steered Mike away from the screaming toddler with a firm hand on his shoulder and a stony look on her face.

He went straight to Grammy’s nursing home after the visit. He crawled into bed with her and cried like a baby. He wanted his son back. He knew he wasn’t the best father, but he’d done the best he could and it wasn’t fair that that wasn’t enough.

He blamed it on his biology. If he hadn’t been an omega, none of this would be happening. He wouldn’t have such a hard time finding good paying jobs and decent housing. There would be no bias against him about his ability to care for a child. No one would think he’d hurt his son on purpose. If only he really was the beta he pretended to be, or better yet, an alpha. No one would ever doubt his ability to be what Connor needed.

“I just want my son back,” he cried into Grammy’s arms. “I just want my son back.”

Grammy could only offer whispered assurances that he would have him one day.

_End Part One._


End file.
